Small Steps
by Ulicia
Summary: *CHAPTER 9 FINALLY UP AFTER SOMETHING LIKE 6 MONTHS*  Short chapters of Sadie and Anubis taking small steps towards a closer relationship  stupidity and hilarity alike ensue... .  rated T, for possible unintentional swearing.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello Everyone! I'm back! Sort of. My profile explains that I've moved on to different things, but I wanted to come back to where my interest in writing really developed and rewrite this story (which got a lot more popular than I expected it to). So here goes!**

**SMALL STEPS: VER. 2.0**

Somewhere, in a dark room, a certain Egyptian god is sitting in a corner feeling sorry for himself because all he can do is think about a girl.

A human girl.

A goddess-hosting wand-toting combat-boots-wearing human girl.

It wasn't as if it was his hobby to think about any random adolescent girls that happen to swoop into his life. No...in all his 5,000 something years of existence, it had never occurred to him that he would become obsessed like some sort of pedophile.

Needless to say, he'd like to think of himself as a "fond observer." Doesn't that sound better? Less creepy? He was proud of himself for coining such a phrase.

However, despite his efforts to convince himself that he wasn't infatuated, he had failed to convince the girl's father, a Julius Kane/Osiris hybrid that no one can really name nor categorize.

It was a bright spring morning when the door to Anubis's room flew off its hinges and Julius calmly strode in.

"You like Sadie, don't you."

Anubis stopped sucking his thumb and looked up from the shadows. "Was that a question? Then no."

"That wasn't a question."

"Alright, well, I'll have you know that I am merely a fond-"

"I don't think 'fond observers' sit around their rooms and eat tubs of ice cream mumbling to themselves about their lack of self-confidence. Grow a pair and do something productive."

The silence that followed was nearly tangible, filled with both heavy denial on one side and stubbornness on the other. If Anubis admitted what he didn't care to admit, then what would happen? Would he actually have to pursue his feelings? Was that something that had to be done, or could he simply wrap them in the toilet paper he rules over and flush them down the toilet?

Would Julius/Osiris let him do that?

"Listen, son," the man said, putting a hand on Anubis's shoulder. "I've been down that road, and I have to say that whatever you may be feeling now will come back to bite you later if you don't act on it now."

The Lord of Funerals, of one's Endings and Beginnings, considered this. All the decisions he'd made in his life floated back to him, and it couldn't have been more obvious that none of them were quite like the one he'd have to make very soon. Regret wasn't something he was familiar with, and he didn't exactly want to get acquainted with it. After all, he's still a god, even if he's the God of Pretty Much Nothing Useful, and it probably isn't pleasant to regret something for eternity.

Everything had to be measured out.

He wasn't as free-spirited as Sadie, charismatic Sadie, who always seemed to be in control of her world and radiated the aura of a leader. Perhaps it was admiration that let to lo-whatever it is he was feeling.

The equations in his head told him that it was worth it.

He would have to face her.

He would do it or have fun moping about it.

"Alright. Fine," he said, standing. Julius smiled and patted him on the back.

"Hold out your hand." Anubis raised a questioning brow. For what, a high five? "Just do it," he pressed. Anubis obeyed.

Julius reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded up piece of pink paper. "What's-"

He slapped it into Anubis's outstretched hand and disappeared without saying another word.

There was a 10-digit number on that piece of paper.

Anubis swore he could hear Julius's evil laughter echoing through his house.

**Well. That was definitely more difficult than I expected it to be, since I didn't really have much of a plot to work off of in the first place. Also, I think I killed some of the cheesy humor in this by fleshing it out. Oh well. It's alright...right? Let me know what you think of the rewrite, because I have the original stored in my computer and I can always put it back if people prefer that.**

**REVIEW!**


	2. Chapter 2

**SECOND CHAPTER! YEEEEEAH MAN.**

**Except this is version 2.0. Oh, and seriously, three cheers for 's new story editing system. So much more convenient than what they had before. I'm actually pretty glad I came back to this site just to experience this brilliance.**

**Anyways, here we go! A rewritten second chapter!**

Anubis paced his room. Again. For Osiris-knows how long. If you looked closely, you could see track marks in the carpet.

It certainly wasn't in his nature to even be able to regress into a nervous wreck. Everyone who'd ever known him would probably consider him the most level-headed person they know. A calculating and detached demeanor paired with his preference for raw steak created an image that simply had no room to accept something like anxiety. Especially not the kind he was experiencing just then.

"If this is what I think it is, then shit just got serious." He'd already folded and unfolded the pink slip around fifty times. The numbers still glared at him through the creases in the paper. Anubis thought he was going to go through with this. He thought he was a man of his word. And yet...

He was scared out of mind.

Even when things were _hypothetical _they were scary! What was he to do with this god-given (literally) opportunity? It was too sudden. He had to go sit down. Take a nap. Perhaps resigning himself to his depression corner wasn't such a bad idea either-

He slapped himself.

"CALM THE HELL DOWN!" he bellowed at the wall. A crack formed in it. Anubis panted and sat down on his bed. "Maybe Julius was right. I need to grow a pair. But for now, I'll sleep on this."

He played Wii golf for the next six hours, hoping his brain would somehow turn into mush and he wouldn't have to wake up the next morning to deal with his new problem.

The pink piece of paper lay open on his desk.

**Hm. A lot of things had to be changed here. My sense of humor back then was pretty strange. Still is. And things are still corny as ever. Anyways, the old reviews aren't going to correspond to the story anymore haha. Well, like always, review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey, muchachos! This is chapter 3 ver. 2.0. Here we gooooo!**

"I thought you were going to man up about this."

His eyes fluttered open, and there was Julius, arms crossed, standing at the foot of his bed.

"Why is it that I always have to see your face when I least want to see it?"

"Ouch."

"Anyways, I was going to go through with this," he replied, jerking his thumb in the direction of the pink slip. "You just didn't give me enough time."

"Enough time? You've been asleep for five days."

Fi-

Wha-

Five days?

"Did you just say...?" He nodded.

"What the hell?"

"Wii golf does that to you." Anubis slowly closed his gaping mouth and rubbed his eyes.

"Oh, well, it wasn't intentional-"

"Wasn't it?" He sounded angry. Anubis looked up at him, stunned. "I don't think you understand yourself very well. You're holding yourself back. I didn't think I'd ever meet a god with self-esteem issues, but the 5,000 something years you've been alive seem to have compacted themselves into sixteen. You act like the common angsty teenager, running away from your problems. Get your act together."

He was right. Anubis knew it, too.

"Guess what? I gave you her number but I didn't give her yours. I wanted you to take the initiative. Sadie's been waiting for five days, but I guess she can wait another. If you don't figure something out by the end of the day, then I don't think you ever will."

_He has a flair for dramatic exits, doesn't he?_ Anubis thought as the god disappeared in a whirl of color.

**Because this obviously didn't cover all of the material that was originally in this chapter and I wanted it to end here, I added another one that comes after this :) Review!**


	4. Chapter 4

Anubis never really liked phones.

As a god who could teleport to any location he could picture in his mind to speak with whomever he pleases face-to-face, the cell phone craze among humans was all but lost in him.

Plus, the way some people seemed to hide behind their technology seemed rather pathetic to him.

The day he called Sadie Kane was the day he suddenly gained a liking for phones.

She couldn't see his face. She couldn't see the way it was redder than uncooked beef and sweating profusely as he tried to force words out of his throat as evenly as possible. In fact, she probably thought he was unaffected and levelheaded as always, since he did such a good job of feigning indifference. These thoughts were more than relief. They were life saving.

But really, if Anubis had the ability to text, he would have done so. Then he could hide his face _and_ his voice.

"Hey," he'd said.

"Hi," she'd replied.

"Humans are so creative—this is an interesting device."

"Oh, you just got a cell phone?" He heard her bubbly laughter ringing through the phone and caught himself wishing he would immerse himself in it.

_That's just creepy_, he thought. _Get a hold of yourself_.

"Yeah," he said, inwardly celebrating the birth of conversation.

"What model is it?"

"Huh?"

"What kind of phone is it?"

"There are different kinds?" She snickered.

"Yes, Anubis." Ah, the way his name sounded in her voice was captivating.

_Woah, seriously, that was just…weird. Stop thinking like this, Anubis._

"There's probably a name or a logo somewhere on there," she continued.

"Oh, there is one," he said. On the battery cover was a white _ankh._

"...It's an ankh. I think...I think your dad made me a phone."

"Probably so he doesn't have to deal with data service plans and whatnot. They'll be wondering why calls are coming from different dimensions." They laughed together, and it was the sort of moment they hadn't shared in a very long time. Anubis wanted to capture it, to frame it, to keep it that way. They were friends. Could they...

Could _he_, even consider the possibility of them being more than that?

"Anyways, I was really surprised when my dad burst into the house and told me to give you my number." She paused. Then, _tentatively_, "did you ask for it?"

"No," he said immediately.

"Oh." Why did she…why did she sound like that?

_It's just me getting ahead of myself. It didn't mean anything._

"It's because I wanted to try using a phone like humans do," he lied quickly. "Julius knows we're friends, so…"

There was nothing left to say. He thought the excuse was pretty convincing.

So why wasn't she saying anything?

"So anyways, I actually wanted to know if you want to hang out tomorrow…if you're free, that is."

"What do you have in mind?" she asked. Anubis was relieved to hear excitement in her voice.

"Meet me in front of the movie theater by your house and we can decide from there."

"Sounds good."

"See you then!"

Anubis found himself still holding the phone to his ear long after the line went dead.


	5. Bonus Chapter!

Hello. This is the Ulicia speaking. I'm sorry I haven't been able to update anything for about two months. As an attempt at forgiveness, I have, in addition to the normal chapter, which I will upload in about a week or so, added a very random but (hopefully) extremely funny scene involving Sadie and Adoofus, whoops, I mean _Anubis_. It takes place at the movie theater and may or may not have some connection to the overall plot of the story. SO, without further ado, please enjoy and excerpt of "Anubis And Sadie Make a Scene In A Public Place But They All Enjoyed It So It's All Good."

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"I think we came a little bit early…"

"NOOOOOOOOOOO," said Sadie, needless to say, sarcastically.

The theater was empty.

"We could play one of those games out in the lobby," suggested Anubis, a little shocked, confused, and relieved that Sadie replaced her shy self with her sharp self (that he knows all too well).

"Hm, alright. Letsa goa."

"The Italian accent was unnecessary…"

~Five minutes later

"WHAT NOW! I'M THE NEW RACECAR DRIVER CHAMPION! EAT IT!"

Sadie had exactly ten million points added up onto her dashboard. It can be really convenient when your date has an infinite amount of quarters and you happen to be an extremely fast driver.

"Think again!" Shouted Anubis. "I have a hundred years of driving experience!"

Anubis had exactly ten million _and one_ points added up on his dashboard.

"Alrighty, God of Toilet Paper, let us begin our ten thousandth race to break our very close match."

"You're on!"

And suddenly, out of nowhere, a Spanish soccer sportscaster appears in the room along with a large crowd that had formed during the competitors' twentieth game.

"Player one, aka Miss Sadie Kane, passed the checkpoint with player two, Mr. Anubis NoLastName hot on her heels! OH! A blue car suddenly smashes into player one's car! And the finishing line is in sight! Player two is now in the lead after being in last for almost the entire race! It seems he is about to win! But wait; did he just stop for an ice cream cone? What is this! This is NOT what happens in fanfiction! What's going on here!

A security guard shows up and grabs the sportscaster's arm. "Sorry, sir, but since you haven't paid for your ticket, I'm going to have to…_escort_ you out of the building."

By "escort," he meant, "defenestrate." Look it up.

END OF RANDOM SCENE.

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See ya later! Sorry bout all this!


	6. Chapter 5

**Omigoshness it's finally here, in all its short glory. I'm on Thanksgiving break, so I promise I'll upload more. Now for the real plot ;P

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"Man, that was an _awful_ movie, my friend." Sadie stretched her arms over her head. "Did you like it?"

"Hey, there are some people here that enjoy watching mummy movies. I thought it was really interesting." Sadie rested her arm on Anubis's shoulder. For Anubis, it was funny to watch because she had to stand on her toes. Then he sighed. "Well, maybe not great for a first date." Sadie laughed for a second, then her expression turned confused.

"Wait, what? A date?"

Now Anubis was confused. "Yeah, your dad told me you agreed to go out with me."

Sadie laughed nervously. "Is that's what he told you? No, I only meant to see a movie as friends. Actually, I wanted to ask you for advice."

_I'm. Going. To send. A certain god of death. Down a few layers of the underworld, _thought Anubis. Then he forced himself to smile. "Advice on…what?" Sadie's face lit up, like she was thrilled he didn't react negatively.

"There's this really cool guy at school and I was wondering what I could do to get him to like me. You're a guy, regardless of how old you are, so I was hoping you could help."

_Horus, this is too much._


	7. Chapter 6

"Anubis."

"Go away."

"A-NOOB-BIS."

"Do _not _call me a noob."

"Then get out of your room."

"No way. I'm too depressed."

"Stop acting like a deprived teenager. Only humans get mood swings." The door suddenly slammed open, revealing a very disgruntled Anubis.

"Listen here, pops! I'm really, _really_ not thrilled about finding out that Sadie does _not_ like me, but actually wants me to give her advice on how to get her _real _crush!"

"Okay, you need to calm down. Lemme get you some herbal tea…"

"You're the cause of this! Why would you tell me this was a date, not just some friendly outing? Have you finally lost it?"

"Oi. What's up with the 'finally?'"

"That's beside the point!" Anubis let out a deep breath and sat cross-legged on the floor at the doorway. "It's useless. I'll just stick with the retarded love letters I get daily. Oh, here's the morning stockpile." A stack of colorful envelopes decorated with various colored hearts and glitter materialized to his left. He picked up the first one and opened the envelope. He cleared his throat. "_Dear Anubis, you're so cool. Please go out with me. By the way, I'm Horus's second cousin's daughter."_

"Yes, yes, well, you've always got to state your social status or there's no value," said Mr. Kane, pushing imaginary glasses up further on the bridge of his nose.

"Yeah, and I love how there's literally three sentences in that letter. And it's written in blood. This is so scary."

"Tell me about it," said Julius, nodding his head wisely.

"Hypocrite."

"Okay," Julius sighed. "Call me a hypocrite, but no matter what you say, I'm going to have to drag you out of your room and into the light by your ear like the father figure I was supposedly made to be by Rick Riordan. By the light I mean the dining hall, because it's lunchtime."

"I'm so touched."

"Thank you."

"That was rhetorical and sarcastic, thank you very much."

"Let's go." The older dude grabbed Anubis by the ear and hauled him out into the grand columned hallway. "Think you can make it from here?" Then he saw the unhinged door Anubis dragged with him. "Never mind," he said. He continued on, Ammit eventually joining the procession with mild interest.

After ten minutes they were at the dining hall, a dark, gloomy place with black wall hangings and a suspicious pink chandelier (installed by Ammit's new girlfriend, which happened to be a pink poodle).

"So, how do you want your steak?" asked Julius, with hope that Anubis would cheer up after eating his favorite food.

"BURNED! TO MATCH MY HEART! WAHHHHH!" *cry* **(I'm kidding this actually wasn't what he said)**. He said:

"Rare, thanks." His ears perked up, but his heart wasn't really in it.

"Wow, I can see you're really in the pits."

"Thanks."

"No prob."

MEANWHILE…**(next chapter, focuses on Sadie's POV)**


	8. Chapter 7

**6th Chapter? Already? No way! I'm still proud of myself for being about to come this far with romance of all things, even though there isn't much of a plot. Comes with not having much of an imagination, i suppose. Hey, don't forget to check out my fictionpress page, too, cuz i've got some poems ive been thinking about sending in to my school's "art spirit" or student literature magazine, but idk if they are any good? Dont forget, im obsessed with reviews :)**

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"Yay!" Sadie twirled around her room, hugging her stuffed octopus (WHAT?) "I thought he was only going out with me so he wouldn't hurt my feelings, but this certainly proves he likes me. Anubis totally looked depressed after I told him that I liked someone else. Yipee!"

"SADIE!" Carter bellowed. He smashed the door open with his deluxe flying sidekick (though he could've used _ha-di_, or better yet, just used the doorknob like a normal human…which he isn't, anyway, so it doesn't matter). Sadie was so surprised she launched her octopus at her brother's face. The octopus hit him with such force that he was slammed against the hallway wall through the open door. He removed the octopus from his face and stood up, shakily, but as angrily as before. "Sadie, did you manipulate Anubis's feelings just so you could find out if he had a crush on you?"

"Yea."

"And you are proud of this."

"Yea."

"Was there seriously any other way to find how Anubis felt about you?"

"Uh…" Carter sighed.

"Look, Sadie," Carter whipped out a scholar's hat and chalkboard. "Rule number one, things always get more interesting with hats. Rule number two, Anubis is probably thrown into such a deep depression at this point that he'll probably hate you when he finds out you lied to him. Look at it this way," Carter began drawing a diagram on the chalkboard. He first drew a stick figure with two lines on either side of its head, like hair. "See, this is you." Then he drew another stick figure, except this one was a head taller and had a mohawk. "This is Anubis. You lied to him," Carter drew an arrow pointing to another picture of Anubis crouching down with squiggly lines over his head **(like in anime, ya'know, with the blue squigglies?)** and Osiris/Julius leaning over him, touching his shoulder and trying to comfort him, although he was smiling like an idiot. "This is Anubis being depressed." Then he drew another arrow pointing to Anubis-stick-figure breathing fire over the Sadie-stick-figure, which had a terrified (sorta) expression on her (its) face. "That is the result of you being a total douche. Think about others' feelings more, 'kay?"

"So…all you did was completely re-explain all that you've said to me before you starting drawing. Was there really a point in the whole schoolteacher/chalkboard getup?"

"Nah, I just like drawing stuff. People tend to think I'm the stupid and useless main character with a really cool-beans younger sister who kicks serious ass. I need fangirls!"** (If you are a Carter fangirl, it would really boost his confidence if you reviewed. Ha! There it is, the ulterior motive XD)** Carter walked over to Sadie and patted her shoulder. "I think you'd better call up Anubis and apologize, before things get anymore complicated."

"How can it get anymore complicated?"

"Well, Anubis could turn homicidal, suicidal, or worse, eat Dad's famous…—ly disgusting brownies. They can't even be called brownies, they are some sort of freaking fossilized poop!"

"Okay, mother, no need to make me relive that one time I had Dad's brownies. It was so traumatizing I think I'm allergic to brownies now," Sadie chuckled. "Ah, the good old days, when Dad wasn't an Egyptian god. I guess there's something to be said about average lives."

"Tell me about it."

"Well," said Sadie, opening her dresser and smiling slightly. "I'm going to get changed, so could you please leave?"


	9. Chapter 8

It was eight o'clock. Half an hour ago, Sadie had sent Anubis a text telling him to meet her at the playground a few blocks from her house, and he replied, saying that he would be there in five minutes.

_So where was he?_ She thought, rocking back and forth on the swings. It had rained the day before and the hot summer air was as sticky and uncomfortable. Beads of sweat dripped down the side of her face. She shifted a bit and sighed.

"LOVESICKNESS? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?" Julius massaged his forehead and crossed the room yet again. He glanced over at Anubis's feverish form and tsked at him. "Gosh, if I knew teenagers were this angsty, I would've straightened out this kid before he even got there." In response, the God of Toilet Paper tossed in his bed, the ice pack slipping off his face and landing on the floor. Julius leaned down to pick it up and place it back on Anubis's head, only to have it fall off when he moved again.

"Julius, you're supposed to be the crazy boss character, not the strict dad. What the hell happened?"

"If you've got the strength to criticize the way the author made me, get up and see Sadie. She just texted you to ask if you could meet her at the park and I responded for you. Aren't you going to go?"

"Damn you adults who can use technology. I can't let her see me like this…plus lovesickness isn't even a real illness."

"Heck yeah it is. Are you kidding?"

"No. And I didn't even think gods _could_ get sick in the first place."

"But without it there wouldn't be any plot development…"

"Plot development? Never heard of it." The two men looked at each other and nodded solemnly in silent agreement. Then Anubis broke out in a coughing fit, effectively ending the pointless rant.

"But this doesn't excuse the fact that you're making Sadie wait in this weather. Looks like it'll rain again, too."

"Honestly, sir, why would you respond to something like that without me?"

"Well, what would you have done if I hadn't?" Anubis turned his head away and said nothing. Julius half-smiled empathetically and pulled a chair up to the edge of the bed. "Indeed, my daughter is a little bit…thickheaded and…insensitive, but why don't you man up and go see her anyway, even as just friends? Wouldn't that be the right thing to do?" Anubis pulled the blankets up over his head like a small child afraid to face the monster in the closet. Perhaps this was one of those rare times he could act vulnerable, instead of being trapped in the cold, hard shell of a personality he set for himself. After all, wasn't Sadie the one who was able to break it?

"I guess," the blankets replied. Suddenly, the covers were thrown off, landing hard on Julius's head and causing him to fall backwards in the chair. Anubis leapt to his feet and hopped enthusiastically on the bed. "I've got this!" He said. But something was definitely off. There were two Juliuses, covered with blankets and shaking their fists at him. His t-shirt turned pink and Sadie's octopus plushie appeared before him, burping the A-B-Cs and dancing to heavy metal. Then the bed disappeared, replaced by a cavern of darkness that laughed at him, telling him to "eat his lollipop and shut up."

Then he collapsed.


	10. Chapter 9

It took a while for her to exhaust her patience. After all, she couldn't blame him, right? She'd lied to him and manipulated his feelings, even if she hadn't meant to hurt him. And here she was, half asleep on the swings, dejectedly swinging her legs back and forth, back and forth, back…

No. She snapped her eyes open and shook herself. She couldn't sleep! Anubis would come soon. She pulled her cell out of her pocket and checked the time. It was nearly ten-thirty.

"Hi, sweetie." Julius Kane stepped out of the shadows behind the slide. Sadie jumped and instinctively pulled out her wand. But wait—only two people in the world would call her "sweetie:" her father and the elderly lady who lived next door. She assumed the former and lowered the wand.

"Hi," she replied, and kicked a pebble, propelling it ten yards away. She looked down at the blacktop. "Anubis didn't come."

"Yeah, about that—"

"It's okay, you don't have to console me."

"No, I mean—"

"Look, Dad," she said, cutting him off and looking him straight in the eyes. "It was my fault, alright? I did something terrible to him and I didn't even realize it. I…I don't know what to do." At that moment, Julius made an important decision. He was, in fact, not going to help mend their relationship by informing Sadie that Anubis was sick. Instead, he would give his beloved daughter a few unhelpful, ambiguous pieces of advice on the philosophy of life.

"You'll figure it out," he said, nodding. "The course of true love never was smooth." Sadie didn't even blush at the mention of 'true love.' Instead she said,

"Yeah. Look what happened to Romeo and Juliet."

"The quote was from A Midsummer Night's Dream, you dunce," he told her smoothly, and disappeared into the shadows once again.

The father and daughter had not taken a single step towards each other the entire time. Where the family love had gone, no one will ever know.


	11. Chapter 10

When he woke up, he knew he was screwed.

His eyes were crusty, his head was pounding, and half of him was hanging over the edge of the bed.

Wonderful.

He got up and shuffled to the bathroom. He washed his face vigorously and looked up at the mirror, water dripping off his face. Dark hair, dark, sleepy eyes, pale, unhealthy-looking skin.

It was her. It was all Sadie's fault, making him feel this way. He shook himself. No, it's not her, it's him. How cheesy. But it's not like she betrayed him or anything. There was nothing to betray in the first place. He was just conceited, thinking that he could become something other than a friend to Sadie Kane-that she could actually love him as much as he loved her. The God of Mummification stared hard at the stranger in the mirror. That's right. He was hopelessly in love with her.

Ugh.

A pang of self-loathing, accompanied by its close companion: hunger. "Steaaaak," he groaned, shuffling out the door and into the corridor. It was gloomy and empty, as usual. Well, you don't really see pink streamers hanging from the light fixtures and baby blue balloons floating around in a God's home. Though, perhaps Dr. Kane's humble abode is an exception.

He pulled on a black leather jacket and swung open the front door, jumping into the purple and black swirl that would teleport him by an Applebee's.

The door was accurate as usual, and while he walked into the restaurant with many pairs of female eyes fixed on him (which he conveniently did not notice), he thought about Sadie.

When he sat down at a booth by a window, he thought about her.

Even as he spoke to the waitress who was practically drooling on him, he thought about her.

So wasn't it a stroke of luck that the lady who had been sitting in the booth across the aisle from him was actually Sadie, trying to binge-eat her way out of confusion and heartbreak? Maybe.

Or it could just be the entire universe attempting to murder Anubis's fragile heart.

And it would have worked if Anubis had acted the way a normal teenage boy would have. But he wasn't a normal teenage boy, and that probably saved his life.

He wasn't upset. Just...blank. As if she were some kind of apparition and he didn't care to find out the truth. That was all that ran through his mind, which used to always be calculating, weighing costs against benefits with every person he met, every action he considered.

And the girl noticed him too. At first, she only sensed someone's unmoving eyes on her. Pausing before forking another mouthful of Mac n' Cheese, she turned to look back at the god who stared blatantly at her, his mouth slightly agape.

She's never been one for sitting and thinking—she always had Carter for that.

She set her fork down quietly and stood up. The only sound the two were aware of was the low creaking of the chair as it was shifted backwards. Sadie slowly made her way across the aisle, a mere three feet wide. After what seemed like hours, she sat down in the booth on the other side of Anubis's table.

"Hi Anubis," she said, and her voice was hoarse.

"Sadie." He almost choked on her name. He may have just been overreacting, but the world seemed to have stopped turning for a few seconds.

Though, in his world, the idea isn't too far-fetched.


	12. Chapter 11

"Before you say anything more, I…" Sadie forced herself to look into the boy's eyes. She had to be straightforward. After all she'd probably put him through, she owed that to him. "I'm so, so sorry."

She watched his expression change, a parade of emotions crossing at once. Relief, some degree of anger, and then…

Sadness.

Why was she so stupid? Why couldn't she put herself in others' shoes? _That's just my flaw, _she thought bitterly. Carter has made that clear quite a few times.

"Hey…" suddenly, Anubis reached across the table. A slender, pale finger caught a tear.

"I'm sorry, I just—"

"Stop apologizing," he said with a ghost of a smile. "It's alright, I'm not hurt, really. We're friends, right? I'll help you with anything." He marveled at how even his voice was as he said those words, how utterly easy it was for those lies to spill from his lips. Was this why Sadie had fallen for that other guy and not him? Anubis, the God of the afterlife, of mummification, of toilet paper. Gloomy all around. Distant. There was no wonder.

But it doesn't matter. Not anymore. His hands balled into tight fists under the table. He was looking for closure. Maybe this is it, and now he just has to face it.

"Don't misunderstand me," she said, tears flowing freely and cheeks flaming red. "I lied to you. I don't like someone else."

"W-what?" he couldn't believe his ears. He didn't know whether or not he should be angry. In fact, his brain seemed to be functioning at half its normal speed. What was she saying, again? She lied?

"I love you."


End file.
